Public Knowledge will host a press briefing Wednesday, October 28 at 2 p.m. EDT to discuss the Digital Millennium Copyright Act triennial exemption process for digital locks. The DMCA’s rules against bypassing digital locks harm consumers and interfere with everyday uses of technology, holding people liable for copyright violations just for accessing their own data on their own devices.

Every three years, the Copyright Office and the Library of Congress issue an important ruling concerning the DMCA, in which they decide what technologies consumers can use in innovative or unforeseen ways without fear of violating the law. Yesterday they determined if copyright law would continue to prevent consumers from accessing the software and information in their own devices -- including their vehicles, e-book readers, medical equipment, cellphones and 3D printers.

Public Knowledge will review the cumbersome exemption process, the October 27 rulings and the consumer harms caused by overreaching copyright law. We will be joined by representatives of other groups who have also asked for their uses of copyrighted works to be declared legal.

Participants include:

Sherwin Siy, Public Knowledge, who asked for consumer rights to 3D printers and medical devices;

Kit Walsh, Electronic Frontier Foundation, who asked that security researchers and consumers be able to research and repair the onboard computers in their cars and tractors;